(1) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system for determining three-dimension (3-D) positional information of a scattering structure embedded within a material that is outside the traditional focal region of a characterized acoustic impulse signal and, more particularly, to a process for producing the 3-D positional information, size, and material composition of a scattering structure by inspecting artifacts in the form of sidelobes and other sources of distortion via the use of a look-up table or comparison function.
(2) Background
Two-dimensional (2-D) imaging techniques may be used to determine the location of a material or scattering structure within another material with varying degrees of resolution and certainty. In standard 2-D imaging, only objects within the region of focus of a sensor array system become well-defined areas in an image slice. Objects outside the region of focus introduce blurred and warped artifacts. Thus, existing 2-D imaging systems do not provide sufficient imaging information with respect to objects in the extended region.
However, in many circumstances, it is desirable to obtain well-defined imaging information from the extended region. Therefore, a continuing need exists for a process that allows a user to gather acoustic imaging information of a scattering object contained within a known material quickly, using information from the extended region.